Stop sending every AI coding request to the expensive model

Michael Manley — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:50:15 +0000

AI coding tools are powerful.

But they’re also wasteful.

A tiny helper-function question does not need Claude Sonnet.

A huge architecture review probably does.

That gap costs money.

So I built Badgr Auto.

It’s a local OpenAI-compatible proxy that routes each AI coding request to the cheapest model that can handle it.

Point your coding tool at:
http://localhost:8787/v1

Badgr Auto can route between:
local models
cheaper OSS cloud models
premium models

So instead of paying premium prices for every request, you can use:
local for small tasks
OSS cloud for normal coding work
premium only when it actually matters

It also tracks:
actual cloud spend
which route was used
fallback events
tokens safely removed
estimated savings vs premium models

The goal is simple:
stop wasting premium tokens on cheap tasks.

First launch is small:
small task → local
normal task → cheaper cloud
hard task → premium
provider fails → fallback
duplicate code → safely removed
receipts → clear spend trail

AI coding is only going to get more expensive if every agent step goes to the top model.

Badgr Auto is my attempt to make AI coding cheaper without making it worse.

DEV Community: Michael Manley

Stop sending every AI coding request to the expensive model